Taco Skillet

This was one of our favorite recipes before we started GAPS. We loved it because it only requires dirtying one pan, it makes great left overs. You can fill tortillas with it, put in on a salad, or make nachos out of it as a second meal. I finally figured out how to adapt it and it has become a weekly staple. Discovering that cauliflower can be shredded and used like rice has opened the door to new meals like this as well as Turkey Hash and Chicken Fried Rice

Here is the original recipe (not GAPS legal)
1 pound ground beef
1 envelope (1 1/4 ounces) taco seasoning mix
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup thick and chunky salsa
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn
1 1/2 cups uncooked instant brown rice
3/4 cup shredded taco-seasoned cheese ( 4 ounces)
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 medium tomato, chopped
sour cream, if desired

1. Cook beef in 10-inch skillet over medium heat 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown; drain
2. Stir in seasoning mix, water, salsa and corn. Heat to boiling; stir in rice. Boil 1 minute remove from heat. Cover and let stand 8 minutes .
3. Fluff rice mixture with fork; sprinkle with cheese. Cover and let stand 1 to 2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle lettuce around edge of skillet; sprinkle tomato in circle next to lettuce. Serve with sour cream and tortilla chips.

GAPS legal recipe
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion finely chopped
2-4 Tbsp of fat/oil for sauteing (olive, coconut, lard, tallow, ghee)
1 large head of cauliflower (this will be used as a rice substitute)
2 Tbsp of chili powder
1-2 tsp. of ground cumin
1-2 tsp. of garlic powder (eliminated for us because of Grayson's allergy)
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 to 1 whole bag of frozen pepper strips (from Trader Joe's)
Handful of broccoli broken into small pieces
1-2 cups of homemade chicken, turkey, or beef stock

1. Cut the core and large stems from head of cauliflower, discard. Wash cauliflower chunks.
2. Shred cauliflower in food processor or with a grater. We used the VitaMix and it is awesome!
3. Saute the onion in skillet with the fat/oil until translucent but not browned.
4. Add ground beef and cook until browned
5. Add seasonings while cooking beef
6. Once beef is cooked, add 1 cup of stock, shredded cauliflower, and frozen peppers
7. Saute until cauliflower rice is soft, adding more stock to keep from drying out
8. Add broccoli in the last few minutes of cooking just to soften
9. Cook until the liquid has evaporated and cauliflower rice is soft and caramelized

Roast with Rice and Gravy

I really don't have time to be posting right now but I'm too excited not too. Tonight's dinner got rave reviews from everyone...including my husband. My husband is very sweet and supportive but a lot of our "GAPS" meals are not his favorite. He smiles and says thank you on most nights because he knows I might cry if he doesn't. :)

But, tonight's dinner got more than a few "this is really good" comments. Rice and gravy is one of his favorite dishes so I tried to replicate that for him tonight. "More rice," was heard lots around the table.

We ate it with a chuck roast I cooked in the slow cooker. I purchased the meat from Sappington Farmers Market which has become one of my favorite places to shop. The prices on produce are very low and they have a selection of pastured meat and chicken from local farmers. (Pastured means the animals are grass fed and cared for humanely. Grass fed animals produce meat that is much better for you and easier to digest).

The prices on meat are more than if I order from Greenwood Farms and others that are at the Schlafly and Tower Grove Farmers Markets but in the winter I don't have access to those as easily. Sappington FM also usually has some cuts of meat that are highly reduced in price for quick sale.

Here is our dinner and how I turned it into soup for tomorrow:

Crock-Pot Chuck Roast
Put roast (grass fed organic chuck roast) in crock pot in the morning (I had our in by 9am and we ate at 5)
Pour 1-2 cups of home made beef stock in
Roughly chop one onion and spread around
Around lunch time drop in a package of organic baby carrots
Sprinkle salt and seasonings to taste

Cauliflower Rice
Grate cauliflower
Steam 3 minutes
Serve topped with gravy

Gravy (dairy & gluten free)
Scoop juice from crock pot into sauce pan
Heat to boiling
Slowly sprinkle Xanthan gum while whisking mixture (not GAPS legal)
It doesn't take much and the gravy will thicken as it stands
If it gets too thick, add more juice from crock pot

Left over Beef Stew
Pull out any meat that was not eaten
Pour left over gravy into crock pot
Using a hand held blender, mix up all the juice, onions, carrots and gravy in the crock pot
Shred the reserved meat and add to stew
Add more veggies if desired
Tomorrow's lunch!

I just have to add that while I was typing this Grayson ran up to me to say something funny. He then ran away as fast as he could, about six feet...straight into the kitchen cabinets. Literally, straight into them! Not a turn, or a slip, just full speed face right in the cabinet and then bounced back, sprawled out on the floor. He just shook it off and went on his way. You got to love him!

Chicken Nuggets-GAPS style

Tomorrow, when I pick the boys up from school I hope to go shoe shopping. Simple errands are not simple anymore because I can't pack up a simple snack or stop to get something while we're out. Since my children are bottomless pits, I always have to think ahead about what we'll have to eat. I am always looking for food options that we can eat on the go. Today I tried making chicken nuggets for our outing tomorrow. I was inspired by my friend Almut's blog post on recycled chicken nuggets which look awesome. They have a lot of stuff we can't have right now but for anyone else they would be worth checking out.

Ours turned out okay. They taste great but don't hold together very well.

CHICKEN TOTS
by Liz at Pecan Bread

1 cup of finely ground cooked pastured chicken (better boiled than baked)
½ cup of pureed cooked green beans (or another veggie/s)
2-3 ground or cut raw garlic cloves (we can't do this b/c Gray is allergic to Garlic)
unrefined coconut oil, lard, tallow, or ghee
salt
spices (optional)
pastured chicken liver (optional)

1. Combine the chicken, green beans, liver, and garlic in a bowl.
You can also just grind the chicken, green beans, liver, and the garlic together in the food processor.
Add spices or seasoning if you like. It should come out moist and pasty like tuna salad.
2. Roll into little meatballs and flatten like patties.
3. Add sufficient fat/oil in a pan or they'll stick. (I used lard for frying as I have read that heating olive oil changes its nutritional value and turns it into a trans fat. I am also trying to get more saturated fats into the kids diets since we do not eat dairy)
4. Fry the little patties on both sides until brown.

They should look like tiny breaded burgers.
Sprinkle with salt.
Enjoy!

Christmas Recipes

I am doing this post more for me that anything else. I've spent the last few days collecting recipes to get us through Christmas. Our celebrating starts tonight.

Dinner:
Ham
Broccoli
Glazed Turnips
-2 lbs turnips, peeled and quartered
-4 T. ghee
-1 cup beef stock
-plunge turnips into boiling salted, filtered water fr 3-5 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Saute in ghee until lightly browned. Add stock and boil down until turnips are coated and liquid has almost completely evaporated.

Breakfast Tomorrow (for opening our stockings):

Egg Casserole

• 6 eggs
• 1 c. milk (I'm going to try to sub with 3/4 c. chicken stock)
• 2 Tbsp. ghee, melted
• 1-2 cups chopped spinach
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• about 1 c. diced ham
• Cashew Cheese
  1 tsp olive oil or coconut oil
  1/2 cup cashews, soaked for at least 6 hours
  1 1/4 cup water
  
• drain the cashews and put them in blender with the water. Blend until very
  smooth.
  
• In a skillet, add the cashew milk and turn heat to high.
  Stir frequently to prevent sticking and reduce to a low
  simmer as soon as it boils. Keep stirring and cover to
  keep it from splattering. Continue to cook for a few
  more minutes, then remove it from heat.
• preheat oven to 400. Grease 9X9 pan with ghee or coconut oil. With wire whisk, beat eggs, stock, spinach, salt, pepper, and ghee until mixed. Add cashew cheese. Pour into pan. Sprinkle ham evenly over top. Bake 20 min or until set and golden.
• I may leave out the cashew cheese as this will be a test to see if we can tolerate cashew butter and we can't over do it. Most of the other recipes for the day also have cashew butter in them.
  

Cashew Butter Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 C pureed, cooked squash or zuchinni
1 C nut butter (we used cashew butter made from soaking cashew 6 hours then blending)
5 pastured or free-range organic eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 T cinnamon
dash of cloves, nutmeg, and any other "pumpkin pie" type spice

Method:
Separate the eggs, and beat the whites until fluffy (soft peaks are fine). In a large bowl, mix together the 5 egg yolks, the squash, the nut butter, and the salt and spices. Blend thoroughly. Fold the egg whites into this mixture gently, so that the resulting batter is airy and light.

Cook on a well-greased griddle on a somewhat low heat, as they do burn easily. Flip them gently as they do not stay together as well as regular pancakes.

Jesus' Birthday Cupcakes
-1 c. cashew butter (made from soaked cashews)
-1 Tbsp. ghee or unrefined coconut oil
-1/2-1tsp. stevia
-2 pastured or free-range organic eggs seperated
-Mix stevia, butter. ghee and egg yolks together. Beat egg whites until stiff then fold into mixture. Pour into cup cake liners.
-Frosting:
--1/2 c. ghee
--3/4 tsp. stevia
--1-1.5tsp vanilla (alcohol free)
--1/8c. nut butter
Bake at 300 for about 20 min for cupcakes

Christmas Cookies
2 cups almond flour (I get mine at Trader Joe's)
4 T ghee, melted (Coconut oil also works)
1/4 cup honey or 1/4-1/2 tsp. Stevia
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp salt

Optional add-ins: 1/2 cup raisins, 1/4 cup shredded coconut, 1/4 cup chopped nuts
350 degrees

1. Cream together first three ingredients. Add the spices.
2. Fold in optional ingredients, if using.
3. Drop by spoonfuls on parchment-lined cookie sheets.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

I have been putting of doing a post on this subject for a while because of the topic. Poop. There it is...I said it. I can't put it off any longer because it is a main topic in our home. I have also learned and benefited from so many other bloggers describing their situations. I will not go into detail...my mother-in-law reads this blog. :)

All I have to say is you might think all poop is ugly until you've waited 3 years for a normal one. Then, that my friends, is a beautiful sight! We are starting to see normal BMs in our house!! This crazy thing we're doing is starting to work. AB is still struggling and Grayson is just barely making progress, but its progress.

So, I know everyone is asking now if their own poop is "beautiful" poop. The Bristol Stool Chart gives an example of how to classify your BMs.

Type 5 is ideal, and Type 4 is close to ideal.

Type 6 is borderline normal. Type 7 is diarrhea. Types 1-3 are all constipation.

To read more about the Bristol Stool chart and what constitutes as normal stool click here.

We have made it a week into the Intro Diet (Part 2). It has been a great week! I can't believe how much easier it is the second time around. I have experienced die off reactions but they pass. Last time, I never felt like they passed. It is definitely hard when it hits me. All of a sudden I will feel like I can hardly stand up and I can't think straight. I might also have a wave of emotions but then I'll have long stretches of feeling pretty good. And, I've already told you about our poop victory.

Gray and AB have been very happy with the food. No one complains when we have beef stew for breakfast. It really has been a restful and peaceful week. Tyler has been with my mom during this time and now that he is back I feel the need to be more creative with our food again. He is much more focused on food and much more opinionated about what is being served. He asks about eating ALL day long. He doesn't eat much at meal times and then begs for snacks all day. This causes stress at meal times and tension all during the day. I've been brainstorming ways to alleviate this and would love input from other moms as to how they handle picky eater, refusal to eat and constant demands for snack.

This is my current strategy: Keep our meal time rules of
1. at least one bite of everything
2. no complaining or arguing about the food (asking for something not on the plate or table is considered arguing)
3. staying at the table until everyone is done eating

These have always been our rules but I start to enforce other rules because I get fearful that he won't eat. I make him eat x amount of veggies before he can have more meat or be done, etc. Can't have dessert until you've eaten x. I've decided I'm going to lay off and try very hard not to get into battle with him, even if he only eats one bite of everything on his plate for every meal.

My other strategy is to serve dinner family style. If they had it their way they would eat only their favorites and keep asking for more and more of that until their full and ignored their veggies. By having the food in the middle of table I hope they'll be able to get a visual of when the preferred food is gone or needed to be saved so others can some.

My last strategy is to keep a box in the fridge that is for Tyler's snacks. I'll fill it in the morning and he can help himself to any snack in there but when they're gone, they're gone. If its not in the snack box then it's not a snack for today. We'll see how it goes.

Like I said, I would love any ideas. My main goal is to give him more control and to alleviate the arguing and bantering that goes on surrounding food.

Back to the intro diet...We've taken it a lot slower this time with the introduction of one new vegetable a day so I can see if we react to vegetables. I've updated the list of what we can eat and will try to update it regularly.

Thanks for all the encouraging words and prayers. Keep them coming!

Chicken Pancakes

Pancakes go fast in our house. This one was a good way to use all the scrap pieces of chicken we have after making stock. The boys loved it. I couldn't get over the idea of a pancake tasting like chicken.

1 chicken breast precooked (season as desired)
3 eggs

Using a food processor, blend ingredients together until completely smooth. Mixture will look just like thick pancake batter.
Use 1/4 cup of the mixture and cook in hot greased skillet like a pancake. Batter may need to be spread out a bit so that it is not too thick.
These cook much faster than nut flour pancakes. Watch them closely.
Makes 4-5 pancakes.

Veggie Chicken Salad

I am in the process of trying to make my own mayo so I can have chicken salad but my first attempt did not go over well...it was pretty gross. Anyone know of a good mayo recipe?

In the mean time I made Cilantro-Lime Chicken Salad for Brian and me for lunch. It was awesome!!!!

For the kids I made:
Veggie Chicken Salad

Grind cooked chicken til fine. (this is a great way to use the scrap pieces of chicken) (I ground it in my magic bullet in lots of small batches)
Add mixture of pureed zucchini and carrots or any left over vegetable(somehow the flavors seem to cancel each other out).
Add salt.
Add boiled egg (optional)
Add chopped fermented cucumbers (pickles) (optional)
By gradually increasing the veggies, you can make it with almost half veggies
I added a lot of seasonings to help this one out (curry, paprika, garlic, ground mustard)

It went over very well.

Culinary Victory and GI defeat

We had a wonderful dinner last night. I felt so proud of my culinary efforts and we all enjoyed our dinner...except for Tyler who doesn't enjoy much of anything these days. I felt very empowered in the kitchen but then quickly defeated when I changed Gray's diaper. He has been having normal BMs for the past few days which was a sign the diet was working. Yesterday he went back to the undigested runny poopies, there was actually a whole green bean in his diaper. (Sorry if that's too much info). This means I need to go slower with progressing through the stages of the diet and that I need to back up with him to figure out what triggered the diarrhea. I have a feeling it was almonds which will be a big bummer trying to figure out how to make any type of baked good without almond flour.

Here is what we had for dinner:

Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup in Acorn Squash Bowls

• 4-6 Red Peppers, cut in half with stems removed
  
• 1 Large Tomato, cut in quarters
  
• 3-4 cups of chicken stock
• 1 medium onion
• 2 Tb. of oil for skillet (coconut or ghee is what we used)
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1-2 Tb. Thyme
• 4 Bay leaves
• ground pepper
• garlic powder
• sea salt
• Acorn squash (1 for every 2 people)
  

Preheat oven to 350. Place acorn squash on baking sheet, whole. Place peppers and tomatoes on a non-stick pan, cut side down. Bake peppers and tomatoes in oven until skin starts to blacken and blister, about 20-30 min. Remove peppers, place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let cool for 15 min. Bake squash for about 45-60 min.

Meanwhile, in a stockpot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute unitl translucent. Add the chicken stock and all of the spices and tomato paste . Bring to a gentle boil.

Remove as much skin from peppers as possible. Add to the pot. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup.

Remove squash from oven. Cut in half, scoop out seeds. Put squash in a bowl. Pour soup in squash. Top with fresh basil and/or grated cheese.

Green Bean Salad with Balsamic Dressing

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (not GAPS legal)
  
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
• 4 large shallots, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (I used 4-5 drops of Stevia)
  
• 1 teaspoon seasoned pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup olive oil
• 2 lbs of green beans
  

1. Whisk together balsamic vinegar (not GAPS legal)and next 6 ingredients in a small bowl until blended; gradually add olive oil, whisking constantly until blended.

2. Pour over washed and trimmed green beans in a casserole dish. Bake, covered, for 20-30 min.

3. Serve over fresh greens and sprinkle with pine nuts.

Big Kid's Casserole

• Put a layer of leftover roast in the bottom of the casserole dish. I cut the roast into small pieces.
• Cook green beans in one pot with some chicken broth and sea salt and layered these over the meat.
• Cook carrots, zucchini, and yellow squash in another pot with just water and sea salt. I took about half of these and layered them over the green beans.
• Pour a little broth and about a cup of rendered beef fat over this and sprinkled with a little salt.
• Puree the rest of the carrots, zucchini, and yellow squash with some of the broth and pour this over the top of the casserole and drizzled more beef fat on top. Then add a touch more salt on top.
• Bake it at 350 F for 30 minutes. That’s it!
  

you can also do this with:

• Meat
• Green beans
• Broccoli and cauliflower
• Rendered fat and sea salt
• Blended cauliflower drizzled with more rendered fat and sprinkled with sea salt

Chicken Salad

Found this recipe at GAPSters

• Chicken, boiled and torn into bite sized pieces
• Pesto Sauce
• Fermented vegetables
• Celtic sea salt, to taste

In a large bowl, combine chicken and enough pesto sauce to coat chicken. Add fermented vegetables--as much as you're allowed. Mix. Add salt if needed. Serve topped with extra pesto sauce.

Beef and Eggplant Casserole

I found this recipe at GAPSters

• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 eggplants
• 2 containers of mushrooms
• 2 leeks or 1 med. onion
• Fresh dill
• Celtic Sea Salt to taste
• ghee
  

Prep vegetables (peel, de-seed, chop). Add beef and onion (if using) to some stock and boil for 40 min or so. Add rest of vegetables and boil for 30 min or so. Add salt to taste. With a slotted spoon, ladle out meat and vegetable and put into a baking dish. Add chopped fresh dill. Add some stock. Either bake like this or reserve some vegetables and meat, blend, and spread on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Add ghee to individual dishes.

Recipes

If you are cooking one of these recipes for us, please double check the "what we can eat" page to see an updated list of "safe" foods. If you are following GAPS, please note that I categorized the following recipes by Intro Stages myself so there may be some recipes that are not in the right spot. Always gauge by what your body can tolerate.

GAPS Recipes
Intro Phase 1
Bone Stock
soups
Carrot & Ginger Soup
Zucchini Soup
French Beef Stew
Winter Squash Soup
Meatball Soup
Butternut Squash & Fennel Soup
Cream of Vegetable Soup
Crock-Pot Roast
Pea Soup
snacks
Orange-Colored "Jello"
Mint Tea
Mint Tea Popsicles
Sparking Water
Simmer simple meatballs in beef broth (make meatballs with ground beef, onion, garlic, salt, fresh sage).
Pumpkin Ice Cream

Intro Phase 2
breakfast or snack
Soft Boiled Eggs and Egg Salad
Non-nut butter pancakes
casseroles/stews
Beef & Eggplant Casserole
Big Kid's Casserole
Pork Stew
Melt in your Mouth Beef Soup
Mashed "too-tatoes"
Beef & Pumpkin Stew
Veggie Minestrone
I Heart Texas Chili
Veggie Chicken Salad
Cilantro-Lime Chicken Salad
Chicken Nuggets
Rice & Gravy
snacks/desserts
Beets
Butternut Squash Ice Cream
Orange Popsicles
Carrot Coins and "Cheese"
Chicken Pancakes
Pumpkin Pie Filling
Coconut Oil Candies


Intro Phase 3
Hamburger/Hot Dog Buns
Pesto Sauce
Chicken Salad
Non-nut butter pancake sandwiches
Quiche Muffins
Carrot Latkes
snacks/desserts
Nut butter pancakes
Squash Mini Muffins
Veggie Pancakes
Cashew Butter Pancakes
Cashew Butter Cupcakes
Meringues
Nut butter Caramels
Nut butter snow balls
Almond butter muffins
Banana Sunflower Butter Pancakes
Crackers


Intro Phase 4
Almond Bread
Grain-Free Indian Flat Bread
Biscuits
Sloppy Joes
Roasted Red Pepper Soup
Roasted Cabbage
Baked Radish Chips
Breakfast Sausages
Chicken Nuggets
Glazed Turnips
Egg Casserole
desserts
Grain-Free Oatmeal Cookies
Cookie Cutter Cookies
Truffles
Apple Pie
Banana Bread

Moving On these are recipes we can currently do (or we use when we need to make exceptions) but are considered "Full Gaps"
Coconut Milk Jigglers
Banana Walnut Muffins
Graham Crackers/S'mores
Yoda Bars
Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel topping
Morning Smoothie
Yoda Bars

Healthy Fats
Rendering Lard
Ghee (clarified butter)

Condiments
Lacto-Fermented Mayo
Mayo with coconut & olive oil
BBQ Sauce
Ketchup
Taco Seasoning

Fermented Vegetables
Cauliflower Pickles

Non-GAPS recipes
Breakfasts
Dutch Babies
Desserts
Coconut Oil Fudge